WSOPE €1,350 Mini Main Event No-Limit Hold’em
Vangelis Kaimakamis won his first ever WSOP event to take home €167,056 in the mini main event in Rozvadov, Czech Republic. The player from Greece took home only the fifth bracelet ever won by a Greek national after beating Israel’s Shahar Levi at the final table.
The tournament was played over the course of three days at King’s Resort in the Czech Republic, where the World Series of Poker Europe has been taken place for the last three years. With 776 entries, the tournament had three flights and a total prize pool of €873,240.
WSOPE €1,350 Mini Main Event Day 1A
The first of the three flights for the €1,350 Mini Main Event began on Thursday the 17th of October. 174 competitors entered the tournament, and there was 42 re-entries. At the end of the day, only 34 players remained.
In what ended up being the final hand of the night, there were four all-ins and calls on four out of the five tables.
Firstly, a three-way all-in between Georgy Philippovich, with a stack of about 69,000 chips, Jakob Madsen with 123,000 chips and Robert Campbell who had both players covered. Phiippovich’s hand was jack ten unsuited. However, unfortunately for him, he was called by two monster hands. Robert Campbell called with ace king, and Madsen shoved all in with aces. Madsen managed to win the pot, taking Philippovich’s stack and doubling up through Campbell.
Another of the hands at the end of play in flight 1A saw Jeffrey Cormier go all in from the big blind for 145,000 after the turn. He was called by Ming Hong Teoh in middle position. Cormier had nine two of hearts and a flush draw was on the board whereas Teoh had ace jack and called with two pair as two sevens had come on the flop. On the river the jack of hearts came down giving Cormier the flush and securing the double up for the Canadian.
On the table of Aleksandr Merzhvinskii, who ended the day as the chip leader, another all-in saw a big increase in chips for the Russian. Arturs Scerbaks checked in middle position, so Merzhvinskii bet 250,000 on the button with a set of fours. Scerbaks called this to go all in and eventually lost the hand. Merzhvinskii ended the day with 1,255,000 chips.
The other all-in at the end of the night was on Thai Ha’s table. Ha had checked his small blind with a large pot in the middle already. Yi Ye shoved all in from the hijack for 286,000. All of this was happening whilst the players on the other table were already bagging up their chips. After some contemplation Thai Ha called for Ye to flip over five two of hearts and reveal he had indeed been bluffing. Thai Ha revealed ace nine, winning the last night of the hand with two-pair, nines and fours, eliminating Yi Ye.
Thai Ha was one of the victors of the multiple all-ins in the final few minutes of play of day 1A. He called Yi Ye’s bluff and won the pot with two pair. ©www.wsop.com
WSOPE €1,350 Mini Main Event Day 1B
In the second flight for the Mini Main Event, 214 entry slips were sold, but just 43 players made it to the end of the day and bagged up chips
Pulkit Goyal, from India, took the crown of chip leader at the end of the day with an impressive stack of 1,518,000, which was nearly double that of Steffen Do in second place with 847,000 chips. Goyal made the final table of the €250 WSOP Circuit Mini Main Event at the WSOP International Circuit a few weeks prior and was looking to put together a deep run in this event.
Coming in in third place at the end of day 1B of the competition was Gerardo Giammugnani with 809,000 chips.
Some notable players who made it to the second day included bracelet winners Renat Bohdanov who bagged up 673,000 chips and Bertrand Grospellier with 596,000 chips.
There were some champions who took a shot at the event but unfortunately did not manage to make it to the second day. These players included Barak Wisbrod, Sebastian Langrock, Asi Moshe, Mykhailo Gutyi, Timur Margolin and Dash Dudley. Dudley had won a bracelet earlier in the day after he won the €550 Pot-Limit Omaha. He registered for the Mini Main Event soon after, but his luck ran out and he couldn’t make it through to the second day of the tournament.
The WSOPE is being played at the King’s resort, Czech Republic. The poker festival has been held here for the last three years running. ©pokerroomkings.com
WSOPE €1,350 Mini Main Event Day 1C
After 378 entries on day 1C of the Mini Main Event, the guaranteed prize pool of €551,750 was surpassed easily and the prize pool was finalized at €873,240. After the day of play, 76 competitors remained to take the total number of players who made it to day two up to 153.
The leader from the final flight going into day two was Ismail Kalkan, who bagged up 1,239,000 chips at the end of play. Kalkan’s best result in a WSOP event was a sixth-place finish in the $500 WSOP.com online No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Deep-stack last summer. Leonid Yanovski was in second place bagging up 1,121,000 chips and the third-place contestant was Pawel Zawadowicz who had 1,077,000 chips.
This left the overall chip lead going in to the second day of the tournament with Pulkit Goyal, who finished in first in the second flight. Aleksandr Merzhvinskii went into day two in second place.
WSOPE €1,350 Mini Main Event Day Two
Only seven players remained of the 766 total entries going in to the third day of the tournament.
Shahar Levi had a commanding chip lead at the end of the day and had nearly 40% of all of the chips in play going into day three despite only going in to the final two tables in fifth position.
Levi took out Moritz Koelsch first with a flush. He then beat Jeff Lisandro, a six-time bracelet winner with two pair which he made on the flop. Rainer Heneka also fell to Levi, resulting in the Israeli going on to the final table with nearly 100 big blinds.
On the final table he kept the pressure on the other players and played very aggressively, raising nearly every hand. This allowed him to add nearly 4,000,000 chips to his stack when his raise was three-bet shoved by Gerado Giammugnani. This was called by Andrew Bak but Levi four-bet raised to price Bak out of the hand. Levi made quad fours with the two fours he had in his hand to send Giammugnani to the rail in ninth place.
The final seven were all guaranteed at least €20,396 but every player had their sights set on a top place finish, which would not only net them a huge €167,056 but also entry to the WSOPE Main Event worth €10,350 and a coveted WSOP bracelet.
Jeff Lisandro managed to make it through to day two of the competition, but could not survive against Shahar Levi. ©www.wsop.com
WSOPE €1,350 Mini Main Event Day Three
The tournament was wrapped up in day three after Vangelis Kaimakamis won the Mini Main Event. Levi, who began the day with a commanding chip lead was unable to defeat Kaimakamis but still walked away from the competition with €103,216 and a ticket to the WSOPE Main Event. The final player on the podium was Jose Rivas of Venezuela who cashed for €72,474.
The final hand began with a raise from the button by Kaimakamis who held king queen unsuited. Shahar Levi, who had pocket tens three-bet to 8,000,000. Kaimakamis, who had the bigger stack decided to shove the hand and Shahar Levi made a snap call and went all in. Kaimakamis hit a king on the flop, giving him the edge. A three came on the turn which was no help for Levi and the final nail in the coffin was a queen on the river, giving Kaimakamis two-pair and winning him the tournament.
